SAUDI ARABIA

Children moved into ill-equipped school

Parents disappointed with merger of Qur’an schools in Sarat Ubaidah

October 21, 2018

Saudi Gazette report

ABHA —
Parents of girls at the Qur’an Memorization Primary School in Sarat Ubaidah voiced their disappointment with the education authorities’ decision to merge the school with another school, which is attended by children in higher grades.

The Education Affairs Directorate in the region moved the primary school students to an old building where middle school students attend in order to make space for 40 kindergarten pupils, Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Saleh Al-Suwaiyan said the decision was unstudied and it surprised them all.

“The old building is not renovated and in a bad shape compared to the school their children attended. The girls are still young and such changes can affect them negatively. The classrooms in the old building are much smaller than the ones they had. Their area is 10 sq. meters only. There are no restrooms and no ventilation in the building. There are barely any basic teaching utilities such as smart whiteboards and enough chairs and desks,” said Al-Suwaiyan.

The teachers at the school are also complaining about the decision.

A total of 120 students and 18 teachers were affected by the move. They received the decision five weeks ago when the school year started.

Many of the parents had their daughters stay at home as the classes were too small to accommodate all the students.

The directorate instructed seven teachers to stay behind and teach the remaining 255 students.

Abdullah Al-Malki, spokesman for Sarat Ubaidah Education Affairs, said the students were at Al-Boutah Qur’an Memorization Primary School.

“They shared the building with Al-Boutah Primary School. The directorate issued a decision to combine the students at the Qur’an memorization program with the middle and high school students at the same program. The directorate had plans to provide more space for kindergarten students and the decision to move the primary school students was to accommodate the kindergarten children,” said Al-Malki.

He added the directorate had formed an experts’ committee to look into the decision before approving it.

“The committee saw it to be a good move to put all of the Qur’an memorization program students in one building and open a kindergarten at Al-Boutah Primary School. Having all of the Qur’an recitation program students in one building will make the school trip easier for the parents as the students would not be changing buildings once they pass the sixth grade,” said Al-Malki.


October 21, 2018
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